Wall St. bonuses back to pre-recession levels

Wednesday, March 12, 2014 3:44 PM

The average person working in the securities industry earned a $164,530 bonus last year, 15 percent more than a year before, MarketWatch reported. An aggregate $26.7 billion was paid out in 2013 bonuses to the industry's 165,200 employees, the highest figure since the 2008 financial crisis, according to figures released today by New York state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. To put that bonus-pool figure in perspective, it would be enough to more than double the pay of the more than 1 million full-time workers earning the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour, according to the Institute for Policy Studies.